The invention generally relates to socket wrenches. More particularly, the invention relates to a four-way socket wrench having four socket heads positioned at ends of two crossing rods, for use, for example, as an automobile tire wrench.
Most automobile manufacturers supply lug or socket wrenches to be employed by a purchaser of the automobile to loosen and tighten lug nuts on the wheels of the automobile for changing of tires. The torque required to loosen the lug nuts is sometimes too much for many people to generate with the lug wrench supplied by the auto manufacturers. Accordingly, several lug wrench designs have been generated in the automotive aftermarket.
The usual lug wrench design of those wrenches supplied by automobile manufacturers includes a modified L-shaped wrench with a flattened end and a socket end. An example of such a wrench is illustrated as tool member 22 in FIG. 1. The flattened end is design to remove wheel covers and hub caps, while the socket end is made to fit the specific size of the lug nuts on the wheels of a given vehicle. Such a wrench is usually applied by holding the socket end of the wrench on the lug nut with one hand and applying pressure on the flattened end with the other hand. It is not uncommon for users to be unable to remove extremely tight lug nuts with that tool inasmuch as the tool is somewhat awkward to use as the torque exerted by the user is too great to overcome the pressure needed to maintain the socket end over the lug nut.
In response to this problem, in the automotive aftermarket, a popular lug wrench design has evolved that includes a four-way wrench. The wrench comprises a cross of two rod bars at the four ends of which are included sockets of varying sizes. The four-way lug wrench has at least two advantages over the L-shaped wrench described above. First, the four-way wrench enables the user to apply an even force on the wrench with two hands. Second, at least four different socket sizes are available on the wrench and, accordingly, the wrench can be applied to at least four different sizes of lug nuts.
Occasionally, it is desirable to apply a greater torque to a four-way wrench than is possible solely by employing the four-way wrench. To this end, the usual method is to employ a pipe or tube to exert a greater leverage on a cross bar member that is perpendicular to the socket located on a lug. The pipe has an interior diameter greater than that of the bar and socket of the four-way wrench to which the leverage is to be applied. The tube or pipe is placed about the bar to which the leverage is to be applied such that the bar and socket thereof are inserted into the tube or pipe. Following this, the leverage is applied to an end of the tube or pipe so as to impart a greater rotational torque to the lug nut socket.
Invariably, such tubes or pipes are not available to someone stranded by the roadside with a flat tire. Additionally, such tubes or pipes may not even be readily available to a person desiring to use the wrench at home. Yet further, to carry such a tube or pipe in the trunk of a car could impose a burden as the tube or pipe occupies more space than just the four-way wrench alone and can be of a heavy weight.